I’ve had an Apple Music subscription for years and use it A LOT. I tried some alternatives (Tidal, Sirius, and maybe one other?) and wasn’t super happy with the options.
Is there a service that people recommend that is good, like $10/month or less, maybe gives better pay to artists? I’d like to spend on a better company if possible too. If Apple has enough money to buy gold trinkets for elected officials they probably don’t need more from me.
A couple of years back I gave up streaming for ownership. The main driver was the utterly unfair deal artists get, and the lack of ownership for my hard earned dollars.
At first, it felt like I was missing out, and I missed the algorithms that helped me find new music. Determined, I stuck at. Discovering BandCamp, and rediscovering CDs was instrumental. For algorithms, I actually found forums to be better, and connected to more amazing artists than before.
Where possible, I buy CDs. If not, I buy FLACs. From BandCamp, you can often get both. The CDs get ripped and stored unless I got FLACs too. I use MusicAssistant for streaming my own collection, and automatic file sync to keep a copy on my phone while on the go.
At the end of the day, I’ve a sizable collection, spend less than streaming (overall, obviously not up front), I have ownership, and artists get a much better deal 😃.
Fuck streaming from apple/Spotify or similar.
CDs and Bandcamp are also my way to go.
In my case, the main driver was disappearing songs. I hate it when I have a great playlist or collection of albums and some of them mysteriously disappear without notice. Or worse, they get replaced with a different version.
sigh so back to CDs we go… luckily second hand discs are dirt cheap, and even new albums are quite cheap (inflation-wise) compared to their prices in the 90s
CD sales from the big labels also screw the artist. Buying merch and going to shows benefits them far more.
What about 24/96 or other HiFi? CD quality isn’t really that great, even losslessly copied when higher quality is available.
Usually with BandCamp, you’ll get higher quality FLACs, although CDs are considered lossless despite the smaller sampling rate. Also, I like having a physical item 😃.